Johnh,
You crack me up. I could see you shooting if you got to the point where they were about to run you over with the car, but your statement is just testament on why concealed carry and the castle doctrine are bad ideas. (The latter because people think they can apply it everywhere, not just their homes)

I doubt I’d have chased after them, but I’d definitely have called in their license number to police. Did anyone get their license number?

If they were trying to steal more than the tip jar (when held less than $5), I probably would’ve tried stopping them before they even got to the door.

I commend Mr. Kreutz for jumping in and taking action. I hope these punks are caught and made to understand what they did by running over him is a lot more serious than a simple prank or minor theft.

I would have tried to stop or reason with them until they got into the car. Once people are in an automobile, they become (to themselves) invisible and unrecognizable. You only have to see how friends drive when they don’t know you’re watching… At that point, a good description and license plate for the Police. As to official apathy, a good citizen follow-up and keeping the press involved should help!

Yes, I would have to tried to stop them. To become a passive person who will not get involved is to allow the bad guys to effectively win. The cops cannot be everywhere.

Just depends on how quickly I could pick up on what was happening.

If I didn’t realize what was going on until they had the jar and were beating feet, probably I would not
try to stop them.

Standing behind them in line and seeing one of them reach for it? Probably I would try to stop them.

But I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I don’t care about the five bucks…what would motivate me would be memories of all the times I’d been stolen from, and not missing a chance to beat the stuffings out of a thief.

Not pretty, not particularly altruistic, but that’s the way it is.

Well, the good Samaritan has passed away. May God rest his soul and may the family take some solace in the fact that he died standing up for what was right. The amount is irrelevant, he championed good in the face of evil. He will be remembered as a hero.

To the killers: You will be caught. Your only chance is to throw yourself on the mercy of the courts, therefore I would highly recommend you contact a lawyer and turn yourself in - immediately. Contrition and remorse may be your only chance for a reduced sentence. If you continue to run and force the justice system to hunt you down, they will be far less sympathetic.

NEVER.MY BROTHER HAD THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO HIM AT THE DIRT CHEAP ON HAMPTON & 44 THE MAN RAN OVER HIM CAUSING HIM TO BE IN ICU FOR 2 MONTHS A FIREMAN PULLED OVER AND CAUGHT THE GUY.OUR COURT SYSTEM SUCKS ALL HE GOT WAS A SLAP ON THE HAND.MY BROTHER STILL HAS PROBLEMS IT WASNT WORTH IT.
LOVING SISTER

Without sounding harsh, I agree with several comments that Roger should have avoided confronting the petty thieves as he did. Those Starbucks jars appear to be typically emptied daily, so there’s never significant amounts of money in them. Even if it had been filled to capacity, it wouldn’t have been worth the effort. There are so many loonies running around these days, high on drugs, etc, and it’s better to overlook something so obviously unimportant. (On the other hand, if he had just grabbed the little runt while he was in the store, smashed his skinny head against the checkout counter, kicked him in the his testicles (if he has any), things probably would have worked out better for Roger. I don’t know, though, how his homely, distempered-looking female accomplice would have reacted. Trash that she appeared to be, she may have taken out a 9mm and unloaded it on both Roger and the store employee. ) As you can see, I really have no opinion.

So. The gentleman has died. That’s murder, perps. Life in prison or maybe the death penalty. Pretty stiff punishment for money in a tip jar. And it might be to the financial advantage of a friend yours to turn you in for a much bigger reward than the change you made off with.

My thoughts go out to the man who tried to stop them. My prayers go out for his family. Who knows what any of us would have done? We have the luxury of thinking about it. But when something like that happens, you aren’t expecting it, you can’t rehearse your response, you can’t rationalize it…you just react. I think at most I might have yelled at the perps, alerting everyone in ear shot. But then I’m a woman and not exactly a spring chicken anymore. When I was younger, I might have still launched myself at them. Who knows? Sometimes when something like that happens, it takes awhile for it to even sink in that your eyes aren’t deceiving you: “By God, those creeps are stealing the tip jar!” By that time, they’re already out the door and the most you can do is try to get their license number and remember what they looked like.

Not for a tip jar. I would have gotten the license number and called police. That being said if I had felt someones life was in jeopardy I would have intervened.